THE BEGINNINGS OF ISLAMIC STONEPASTE TECHNOLOGY*

A multidisciplinary programme of research on Islamic pottery has been focused on questions of the dating, provenance and technology of Islamic pottery. One particular question has been the development of stonepaste, a material made primarily of crushed quartz with added frit-glass and clay. The combination of the different approaches of this study has revealed early foundations for the technology in ninth-century AD Iraq, apparently originating in the clay ceramic rather than the ‘Egyptian faience’ tradition. Subsequent and final practice developed in tenth- and eleventh-century AD Egypt. This technology becomes the primary body for all fine Islamic ceramics.     

宁夏伊斯兰教地理的初步研究

中国伊斯兰教地理的研究相对空白。本文以宁夏回族自治区为例,阐述了伊斯兰教徒、宗教景观、社区类型和教派及其门宦的地域性特征,伊斯兰区域主导文化与区域社会经济发展的关系。本文希望对伊斯兰教地理的研究起到抛砖引玉的作用,对于制定以伊斯兰文化为主导的区域发展战略和政策起到参考作用。     

THE TECHNOLOGY OF GLAZED ISLAMIC CERAMICS USING DATA COLLECTED BY THE LATE ALEXANDER KACZMARCZYK

During the 1980s, the late Alexander Kaczmarczyk undertook the analysis of some 1200 glazed Islamic ceramics from Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria spanning the period from the eighth to the 14th centuries ad , using a combination of XRF for the glazes, and AAS or PIXE for the bodies. The aim of the present paper is, first, to bring to the attention of researchers into Islamic ceramics the fact that these analytical data are available on the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art website, and also that some 400 of the analysed sherds are held in the Research Laboratory. Second, the paper provides a preliminary interpretation of the analytical data in terms of the choice of glaze type (i.e., alkali–lime, lead–alkali and high‐lead), tin‐opacification, body type (i.e., quartz or stonepaste, calcareous clay, and non‐calcareous clay), and colorants.